New Additions to Our Collections

July - December 1998

Here are some highlights of the many artifacts that entered the collections of the Kansas Museum of History during this six-month time period.

Air-O-Lantern manufactured between 1915 and 1918 by the Coleman Lamp Company of Wichita. The lantern has a nickel-plated brass fuel tank and a clear glass globe.

Quilt made in "crazy quilt" style with a backing constructed of 1930s county and state fair ribbons from Thomas and Trego counties. The quilt was made by Edna Vawter in the early 1940s. Vawter was a correspondent for the Oakley Graphic for over 50 years.

Eight hats made by Kansas milliner Sarah Pettigrew McWilliams, who operated a dressmaking and millinery shop in Washington, Kansas, around the turn of the 19th century. McWilliams made one of the hats for her 1903 wedding to Charles Hawes, a Morrowville merchant.

Photo of fake pistol Ivory satin wedding dress worn by Ida Challis on the occasion of her wedding to John Martin in 1871. Martin was Kansas Governor from 1885 through 1889.

A 1950s electric lawn sweeper used by Elna Ridgway in Atwood, Rawlins County. The sweeper was made by the Parker Sweeper Company of Springfield, Ohio.

Fake pistol (pictured) carved by a prisoner at Lansing Penitentiary and used in an escape attempt.

A number of ribbons, programs, buttons, badges and other souvenirs from Augusta Pray's trip on the Sunflower Special train from Kansas to Washington, D.C., to attend Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower's 1953 presidential inaugural.

Promotional items from the first season (1998-99) of the Topeka Scarecrows hockey team, including a ticket, puck, poster, team picture, and yearbook.

Liturgical vestments used by various prelates and bishops of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salina, post-1944. The collection includes a cassock and sash, mantelletta, and seven tabernacle covers in different liturgical colors.

Back to the most recent New Collections page.